The Business of Tolerance

continued

The chamber's latest public policy initiative is a lot less predictable: it's opposing a pair of bills in the state legislature that would prevent public employers from offering benefits to unmarried domestic partners and bar public unions from bargaining for them-a not-so-subtle swipe at the state's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens.

Though "defending" heterosexual marriage is a fixation for social conservatives, the chamber kept clear of the values debate. Leaders insist they made the call for solid business reasons.

"As a state, we cannot afford to be exclusionary when we're trying to attract and retain talent," wrote Sean Duval, the chamber's public policy committee chair and owner of Golden Limousine International, in announcing the chamber's position. "We are a better place because of the diversity of wonderful people who call this region home, and we want our public institutions to use every tool they have to attract and retain each and every bright individual."

"The impetus for our position was realizing the universities would be affected by this," Duval explains. "They're important parts of our community, and there's a strong business case to be made against these bills. The nation's best companies offer competitive health care benefits, and, from a talent standpoint, you can't take that recruiting tool out of the hands of our universities."